When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”
Parallel Translations
-
When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”
-
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
-
When I saw among the spoil a goodly Shinar mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.'
Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to Joshua 7:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- James 1:15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- Psalms 119:37 Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
- Luke 12:15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
- 1 John 2:15-16 Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
- Deuteronomy 7:25 You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- 2 Peter 2:15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
- Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
- Genesis 6:2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
- 2 Samuel 11:2 At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.
- 1 Kings 21:1-2 After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
- 2 Kings 5:20-27 But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.” So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?” He said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ” Naaman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they carried them before him. When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you come from, Gehazi?” He said, “Your servant went nowhere.” He said to him, “Didn’t my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your offspring forever.” He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.
- Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.
- 1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
- Hebrews 13:5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- Genesis 10:10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- 2 Samuel 11:6-17 David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and didn’t go down to his house. When they had told David, saying, “Uriah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah, are staying in tents; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing!” David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next day. When David had called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. At evening, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn’t go down to his house. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck, and die.” When Joab kept watch on the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. The men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of David’s servants; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
- Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- Proverbs 23:31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
- Isaiah 28:15 “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ”
- Isaiah 29:15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”
- Micah 2:1-2 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
- Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Matthew 5:28-29 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
- Luke 12:2 But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.
- Romans 7:7-8 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
- Ephesians 5:3 But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;
- Ephesians 5:5 Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Such a rich garment as the states of Babylon…
Such a rich garment as the states of Babylon did wear.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a…
Jos 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they [are] hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Ver. 21. When I saw, &c.] Millions have died of the wound in the eye. Covetousness is called "the lust of the eye," {1Jn 2:16} and by this window much wickedness windeth itself into the heart, said the wise heathen.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He accurately describes the progress of his sin, which…
He accurately describes the progress of his sin, which began at his eye, which he permitted to gaze and fix upon them, which inflamed his desire, and made him covet them; and that desire put him upon action, and made him take them; and having taken, resolve to keep them, and to that end hide them in his tent. Babylonish garments were composed with great art with divers colours, and of great price, as appears both from Scripture, Eze 23:15, and from divers heathen authors. See my Latin Synopsis.
Two hundred shekels, to wit, in weight, not in coin; for as yet they received and paid money by weight.
Read full note →
Under it, i.e. under the Babylonish garment; covered with it, or wrapt up in it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish…
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment,.... One, as the Targum adds, for no more was taken; a garment made of Babylonish wool, as Jarchi; or a valuable garment made in Babylon, called "Shinar", for that is the word in the text, so Kimchi and Abarbinel; and Babylonian garments were in great esteem in other nations: Pliny says (c) Babylon was famous for garments interwoven with pictures of divers colours, and which gave name to them; and Plutarch (d) relates, that Cato in his great modesty, and being an enemy to luxury, having a Babylonish garment that came to him by inheritance, ordered it immediately to be sold: the Vulgate Latin version calls it a scarlet robe; and in some Jewish writings (e) it is interpreted, a garment of Babylonian purple, as if it only respected the colour; and purple and scarlet are sometimes promiscuously used and put for the same, see Mat 27:28; and were the colour worn by kings: and Josephus here calls it a royal garment, wholly interwoven with gold (f); and some have thought it to be the garment of the king of Jericho, which is not unlikely; however, it is much more probable than that Jericho was subject to the king of Babylon, and that he had palaces in Jericho, and when he came thither was clothed with this robe, so Jarchi; as is elsewhere said (g) by others, that he had a deputy who resided in Jericho, who sent dates to the king of Babylon, and the king sent him gifts, among which was a garment of Shinar or Babylon:
and two hundred shekels of silver; which, if coined money, was near twenty five English pounds:
Read full note →
and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight: or a "tongue of gold" (h); a plate of gold in the shape of a tongue, as Kimchi and Abarbinel; a piece of unwrought gold which weighed fifty shekels, and worth of our money about seventy five pounds, according to Brererwood (i): where he saw these, and from whence he took them, is not said; according to some Jewish writers, these belonged to one of their idols; it is said (k), he saw the Teraphim and the silver they offered before it, and the garment which was spread before it, and the tongue or wedge of gold in its mouth; and he desired them in his heart, and went and took them, and hid them in the midst of his tent: and the Samaritan Chronicle (l) makes him confess that he went into a temple in Jericho and found the above things there: and Masius conjectures that the wedge of gold was a little golden sword, with which the men of Jericho had armed their god, since an ancient poet (m) calls a little sword a little tongue:
then I coveted them, and took them; he is very particular in the account, and gradually proceeds in relating the temptation he was under, and the prevalence of it; it began with his eyes, which were caught with the goodliness of the garments, and the riches he saw; these affected his heart and stirred up covetous desires, which influenced and directed his hands to take them:
and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent; Josephus (n) says, he dug a deep hole or ditch in his tent, and put them there, that is, the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold; which, as Ben Gersom gathers from Jos 7:25, was wrapped up and hid within the garment; which is not improbable, since otherwise no account is given of that:
and the silver under it; the two hundred shekels of silver lay under the garment in which was the wedge of gold, and so it lay under them both.
(c) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48. (d) In Vita Catonis. (e) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 85. fol. 75. 2. (f) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48.) (g) Bereshit Rabba, ib. (h) "linguam auream", Montanus, Tigurine version, Masius; "lingulam auream", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (i) De Ponder. &. Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5. (k) Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 38.) (l) Apud Hottinger, ut supra. (Smegm. Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 505.) (m) Naevius apud A. Cell. Noct. Attic. l. 10. c. 25. (n) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain When I saw - He accurately describes the progress…
When I saw - He accurately describes the progress of his sin, which began at his eye, which he permitted to gaze upon them, which inflamed his desire, and made him covet them; and that desire made him take them; and having taken, resolve to keep them; and to that end hide them in his tent. Babylonish garment - Which were composed with great art with divers colours, and of great price, as appears both from scripture, and Heathen authors. Two hundred shekels - To wit, in weight, not in coin; for as yet they received and payed money by weight. The silver under it - That is, under the Babylonish garment; covered with it, or wrapt up in it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. A goodly Babylonish garment] אדרת שנער addereth…
Verse 21. A goodly Babylonish garment] אדרת שנער addereth shinar, a splendid or costly robe of Shinar; but as Babylon or Babel was built in the plain of Shinar, the word has in general been translated Babylon in this place. It is very probable that this was the robe of the king of Jericho, for the same word is used, Jon 3:6, to express the royal robe, of the king of Nineveh which he laid aside in order to humble himself before God.
Bochart and Calmet have shown at large that Babylonish robes were very splendid, and in high reputation. "They are," says Calmet, "generally allowed to have been of various colours, though some suppose they were woven thus; others, that they were embroidered with the needle; and others, that they were painted. SILIUS ITALICUS appears to think they were woven thus: -
Read full note →
Vestis spirantes referens subtemine vultus,
Quos radio caelat BABYLON.
Punic. lib. xiv., ver. 667.
MARTIAL seems to say they were embroidered with the needle: -
Non ego praetulerim BABYLONIA PICTA superbe
Textra, Semiramia quae variantur ACU.
Lib. viii., E. 28, ver. 17.
PLINY (lib. viii., c. 48) and APULEIUS (Florid. lib. i.) speak of them as if painted: "Colores diversos picturae intexere Babylon maxime celebravit, et nomen imposuit."
Thus far Calmet: but it may be observed that the clothes woven of divers colours at Babylon, which were so greatly celebrated, and hence called Babylonish garments, appear rather to have had the pictures woven or embroidered in them than painted on them, as Calmet supposes, though it is most likely the figures referred to were the work of the needle after the cloth came from the loom.
AQUILA translates the original, אדרת שנער addereth shinar, by στολην βαβυλονικην, a Babylonish robe; SYMMACHUS, ενδυμα συναρ, a robe of Synar; the SEPTUAGINT, ψιλην ποικιλην, a fine garment of different colours; and the VULGATE, pallium coccineum, a scarlet cloak. There is no doubt it was both beautiful and costly, and on these grounds it was coveted by Achan.
Two hundred shekels of silver] At three shillings per shekel, amount to about 30£. sterling.
A wedge of gold] A tongue of gold, לשון זהב leshon zahab what we commonly call an ingot of gold, a corruption of the word lingot, signifying a little tongue, of fifty shekels weight. These fifty shekels, in weight 29 oz. 15 15/31 gr., at 2£. 5s. 2½ 42/93d. per shekel, would be worth about 113£. Os. 10 3/4d.
This verse gives us a notable instance of the progress of sin. It
1. enters by the eye;
2. sinks into the heart;
3. actuates the hand; and,
4. leads to secrecy and dissimulation.
I saw, c, I coveted, &c. I took and hid them in the earth. Thus says St. James: "When lust (evil desire) is conceived it bringeth forth sin and when sin is finished it bringeth forth death," Jos 1:15.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jos 7:21. When I saw — a goodly Babylonish…
Jos 7:21. When I saw — a goodly Babylonish garment — Such garments were composed with great art, of divers colours, and of great price, as appears both from the Scriptures and from heathen authors. Two hundred shekels — Not in coin, but in weight; for as yet they received and paid money by weight. When I saw — He accurately describes the progress of his sin, which began at his eye. This he permitted to gaze upon these things. Hereby his desire for them was inflamed, and that desire induced him to take them, and, having taken, to resolve to keep them, and to that end, hide them in his tent. Then I coveted them — See what comes of suffering the heart to go after the eyes, and what need we have to “make a covenant with our eyes!” He was drawn away, like Eve, of his own lust, and enticed; and lust having conceived, by getting the consent of his will, brought forth sin, and sin, being committed, brought forth death. Thus we see, that they who would be kept from sinful actions, must check and mortify sinful desires, particularly the desire of wealth, which we more especially term covetousness. For of what a world of evil is the love of money the root! How does it draw men into, and drown men in, destruction and perdition! 1Ti 6:9. They are hid in my tent, and the silver under it — That is, under the Babylonish garment; covered with it, or wrapped up in it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A goodly Babylonian garment - literally, “a robe or…
A goodly Babylonian garment - literally, “a robe or cloak of Shinar,” the plain in which Babylon was situated Gen 10:10. It was a long robe such as was worn by kings on state occasions Jon 3:6, and by prophets 1Ki 19:13; Zec 13:4. The Assyrians were in early times famous for the manufacture of beautiful dyed and richly embroidered robes (compare Eze 23:15). That such a robe should be found in a Canaanite city is natural enough. The productions of the far East found their way through Palestine both southward toward Egypt and westward through Tyre to the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. (Compare Eze 27:24 and the context.)
Wedge of gold - i. e. some implement or ornament of gold shaped like a wedge or tongue. The name lingula was given by the Romans to a spoon and to an oblong dagger made in shape of a tongue. The weight of this “wedge” was fifty shekels, i. e. about twenty-five ounces (see Exo 38:24 note). The silver was under the rest of the stolen property. The mantle would naturally be placed uppermost, and be used to cover up the others.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Garment. Hebrew, "a robe of Sannaar, or of Babylon."…
Garment. Hebrew, "a robe of Sannaar, or of Babylon." This city was famous for embroidered, or painted robes, such as were worn by kings, Jonas iii. 6. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 48.) --- Rule, or linget. No coin was yet used. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain a goodly Babylonish garment--literally, "a mantle of Shinar." The…
a goodly Babylonish garment--literally, "a mantle of Shinar." The plain of Shinar was in early times celebrated for its gorgeous robes, which were of brilliant and various colors, generally arranged in figured patterns, probably resembling those of modern Turkish carpets, and the colors were either interwoven in the loom or embroidered with the needle.
two hundred shekels of silver--equivalent to £22 10s. sterling, according to the old Mosaic shekel, or the half of that sum, reckoning by the common shekel.
Read full note →
a wedge of gold--literally, an ingot or bar in the shape of a tongue.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. A goodly Babylonish garment — [Literally, a mantle…
21. A goodly Babylonish garment — [Literally, a mantle of Shinar, one of excellence. The mention of this garment indicates that Jericho had enriched itself by commerce with Babylon, in the land of Shinar.
Gen_11:2. This was rendered easy by the caravans of merchantmen, such as that to which Joseph was sold, (Gen_37:25-28,) which frequently must have passed near Jericho on their journeys between Egypt and the East.] The original intimates that it was a splendid mantle. Some think it was a military cloak, embroidered with brilliant colors; others, that it was a kingly robe, woven with gold. It is probable that its appearance dazzled the eye of Achan, and through the eye awakened covetousness in his heart. [Herodotus (i, 195) says: “The dress of the Babylonians is a linen tunic reaching to the feet, and above it another tunic made in wool, besides which they have a short white cloak thrown around them.” The Babylonian cylinders furnish us with representations of a flounced robe, reaching from the neck to the feet.]
Read full note →
And two hundred shekels of silver — The word shekel signifies weight, generally a definite weight of unstamped gold, silver, brass, or iron. Here it may mean definite pieces of silver passing current, with the weight marked. In different periods the shekel varied in value. The shekel of the sanctuary differed from the shekel of the king. Its usual value was about sixty-two and one half cents. The whole value of the silver was about $125, when a dollar had nearly ten times the purchasing power that it now has.
A wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight — The shekel of gold was about five and a half dollars, so that this oblong or tongue-shaped bar was worth $275.
And the silver under it — That is, under the Babylonish garment. All the stolen goods were probably placed in some box or bag, and buried where no human eye could see them. The frankness and apparent penitence of this confession affects our hearts with sorrow for the sad fate of Achan. It lacked but two elements — spontaneity and seasonableness — which will be lacking in the confession of every impenitent sinner before the judgment seat of Christ. The whole philosophy of temptation and sin is here strikingly illustrated. In the sacking of Jericho, Achan, unobserved by any witness, finds, possibly in the king’s palace, a beautiful robe and a quantity of gold and silver. The splendour of the garment and the glitter of the precious metals struck his eye and awakened desire. Instead of turning away his eyes, he continued to look and to desire, till desire ripened into volition, and this into action. “When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. a goodly Babylonish garment] Literally, a goodly mantle…
21. a goodly Babylonish garment] Literally, a goodly mantle of Shinar, i.e. Babylonia. Comp. Gen_11:2, “They found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there,” 9, “therefore is the name of it called Babel.” The word here translated “garment,” means a long robe, such as was worn by kings on state occasions; comp. Jon_3:6, and by prophets, 1Ki_19:13; 2Ki_2:13-14; Zec_13:4. Probably it was stuff embroidered, made in the loom with many colours, and wrought of gold and silk threads. On the elaborate and beautiful products of the Babylonian looms see Heeren’s Asiatic Nations 1. 2, ff. 22; Layard’s Nineveh 2:319; Kitto’s Bible Illustrations 2:204. The word employed points to the existence of a trade already between Canaan and Mesopotamia. Wyclif renders it “a reed mentil ful good.”
a wedge of gold] Literally, a tongue of gold. Vulg. regula aurea, “a golden bar,” or “a tongue-shaped jewel made of gold,” “a golden rewle of fifti siclis,” Wyclif. The name lingula was given by the Romans to a spoon, and to an oblong dagger made in the shape of a tongue. The weight of the wedge was 50 shekels = about 25 ounces. See The Speaker’s Commentary in loc.
Read full note →
the silver under it] The mantle would naturally lie at the top, then the tongue of gold, and the silver lowest.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) A goodly Babylonish garment.—Literally, A certain goodly mantle…
(21) A goodly Babylonish garment.—Literally, A certain goodly mantle of Shinar.
I coveted them.—The very word employed, not only in the tenth commandment (Deu_5:21), but also in Deu_7:25, the passage which forbids Israel to desire the spoils of idolatry. This coincidence of terms makes it somewhat probable that the whole were found in some idol’s temple, and were part of the spoils of the shrine.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A goodly Babylonish garment. Literally, "a mantle of Shinar,…
A goodly Babylonish garment. Literally, "a mantle of Shinar, one goodly one." Babylon was in the "land of Shinar". (see Gen_11:2 Gen_14:1 Isa_11:11 Zec_5:11) The trda derived from rda great, glorious, was an ample cloak, sometimes of hair or fur. (Gen_25:25; cf. 1Ki_19:13, 19 2Ki_2:13, 14 Jon_3:6, etc.) The Babylonish mantle was famed for its beauty (poikilh , LXX), and was, no doubt, worked artistically with figures of men and animals. "Of all Asiatic nations, the Babylonians were the most noted for the weaving of cloth of divers colours. Into these stuffs gold threads were introduced into the woof of many hues. Amongst those who traded in "blue clothes and embroidered work" with Tyro were the merchants of Asshur, or Assyria; and that the garments of Babylon were brought into Syria and greatly esteemed at a very early period, we learn from their being classed amongst the most precious articles of spoil, even with gold, in the time of Joshua" (Layard, "Nineveh," II 413). From this, among other passages, we may infer the early date of the Book of Joshua. It marks an early stage of civilisation when an embroidered garment can be considered as in any degree equivalent to gold. The Israelites, it must be remembered, were not unaccustomed in Egypt to the highest degree of civilisation then known. "Nam Persarum, finitimarumque gentium luxum eo se ostentare solere vel ex eo constat quod captis ab Alexandro Magno Susis illicinventa fuerit 10 millia pondo, sive talents purpurae Hermionicae, teste Plutarcho in Alexandro" (Corn. a Lapide). A wedge of gold. Literally, "a tongue of gold." Some derive our word ingot from the French lingot, or little tongue. But others derive it with greater probability from the Dutch ingieten the same as the German einqiesen, to pour in. "Si ergo invenias spud philosophos perversa dogmata luculenti sermonis assertionibus decorata, ista eat lingua aurea. Sed vide, nete decipiat fulgor operis, ne te rapiat sermonis aurei pulchritudo: memento, quia Jesus anathema jussit esse omni aurum quod in Jericho fuerit inventum. Si poetam legeris modulatis versibus et praefulgido carmine Deos Deasque texentem, ne delecteris eloquentiae suavitate. Lingua aurea est: si eam sustuleritis, et posueris in tabernaculo tuo: polluis omnem ecclesiam Domini" (Orig., Hom. 7 on Joshua).
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER Ver. 21. A sin of greed.
Read full note →
Here we have much profitable study. Some sins are peculiar to certain ages or countries. But greed is found in all lands and times. It specially thrives in periods of wealth and of prosperity. It creeps in where faults of uglier aspect are denied admission. It flourishes wherever the power of religion has decayed while its profession continues. Here is an instance of its action in all its meanness, disclosure, mischief, and retribution. Consider it.
I Mark ACHAN"S FAULT. There was this feature peculiar in the capture of Jericho that man had no hand in it. It was God"s work throughout. No risk, no loss was entailed on Israel. The earthquake of God if such was the mode of its destruction threw the walls down fiat. The capture, God"s work; the spoil was, in a special sense, God"s spoil. The first fruits of their booty; He required the entire consecration of all the gold and silver to His service. In all their subsequent operations of wax the spoil they take will be their own. In this God claims all. In such a prescription there was nothing that was unreasonable, but much that was divinely wise. Israel as a whole obeyed the Divine command, doubtless helped thereto by the solemnity which the presence and miracles of God imparted to their task. The destruction righteously ordained was carried out as God ordered. The whole of the wealth that was indestructible was reserved for God. But Achan is tempted. He suddenly lights on one hundred ounces of silver and twenty-five ounces of gold a large sum in those days probably more in purchasing power than a thousand pounds today. To see is to covet intensely, and to find a score of reasons rising within him for disobedience. "To take it hurts no one." "Nobody need know anything about it." "The sanctuary is quite rich enough." "There will be plenty left untouched by his more scrupulous neighbours." "It will stock a farm and build a house." So the vivid imagination of greed discovers a multitude of reasons for taking the spoil. And, somehow, the suddenness of the opportunity and the impulse stuns all his better nature and makes it speechless. There is no voice to remind him that he will despise himself, or that he imperils his nation. It is nothing to him that within an hour, and just at hand, God"s omnipotence had been working a miracle. Under the very shadow of the Almighty he dares to sin. And every thought but that of his material advantage banished from his mind, he takes the forbidden treasure, and, concealing it in his clothes, hurries with it to his tent, and, with or without the connivance of his family more probably the former buries it in the earth. It is these sudden temptations that test a man. A good habit is the only protection from a bad impulse. Had he been habitually honourable, he would not so have sinned. But he was one of those who like to be deemed smart and clever, and who often imagine that self preservation is "the fulfilling of all law." Did he enjoy his loot that night? Probably with some faintest misgiving he enjoyed it greatly, and his wife and family and himself made out a most plausible case of self justification, and built pleasant castles in the air out of their treasures. But
II Mark how ACHAN"S SIN FINDS HIM OUT. No sin is ever entirely concealed. Every virtue puts its seal upon the brow, and every fault its mark. When concealment is perfect, the man is still embarrassed preoccupied. His taste, and with his taste his look, degenerates. Something of restlessness makes at least his spirit a "fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." His eye is on fence, and he alternates between a glance which, in its curiosity to know whether you suspect him, glares on you, and the averted look which shuns your eye altogether. So every fault, however secret, gives some tokens of something being wrong so much so, that the special form of wrong can often be detected in the mere look. And in addition, how strikingly is it the case that often just one precaution has been left untaken that brings the truth to light. God is light, and is always illuminating by His providence our hidden deeds of darkness; sometimes by methods more, and sometimes by methods less miraculous, God does this. In this instance how swift, terrible, and certain is the discovery! The unexpected, needless failure of the attack on Ai, where success was easy, suggests something wrong. In answer to Joshua"s prayer, God"s oracle reveals it. The culprit is not named, but, using the lot probably, the tribe to which he belongs, then his division of the tribe, then his family, then himself, are successively indicated; and he who but a day or two before felt so secure in the absolute secrecy of his crime, stands revealed to all the people in all the meanness of his greed! Your sin and my sin will find us out. It is better for us to find it out, to own and end it. Plume not yourself on craft or subtlety. For God"s light will disclose whatever God"s eye discerns. If you do not wish a wrong thing to be known, keep it undone. All sin finds out the doer of it.
III Mark THE RESULTS OF HIS WRONG. How different from what they dreamed! There was no comfort; no farm, no castle ever came of it only shame, disappointment, death. Mark specifically its mischiefs.
1. Israel was damaged. In the two attacks on Ai rendered necessary by this sin, many lives were lost needlessly. The heart of the people was discouraged, and the success of their enterprise imperilled.
2. Then there is the probable corruption of the man"s family, the digging and hiding being hardly possible without their knowledge. It is an awful penalty of a parent"s sin that it tends so directly and strongly to corrupt the children. Let us see that those whom God has given us be not harmed by what they see in us.
3. It involves all his family in the penalty of death. The law of Moses was explicit that the child should not be put to death for the father"s sin. But here whether because the family had been partakers of his crime, or because that crime was one of terrible presumptuousness the family share his fate. Whatever the reason, it reminds us of the fact that God "visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those that hate him, and shows mercy unto thousands of generations of them that love him and keep his commandments." Here the parent"s fault involves the family in ruin. Such is too often the case. Let us guard against the possibility of it.
4. It costs him his own life: he is stoned to death. Late repentance perhaps letting him make a fairer start in the other world, but not availing to prolong his existence here. How dearly he paid for his silver and his gold! How commonly men do this; how much they part with to get what sometimes only hurts them when they gain it! Let not greed be our ruin. Be generous in self protection, if from no higher motive. Only goodness is wisdom, and they consult worst for their own advantage that seek to further it with craft or with impiety. G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:21 The robe should have been burned with the…
7:21 The robe should have been burned with the rest of Jericho’s goods. It was from Babylon, evidence that long-distance trade was a significant part of life in the ancient Near East. • 200 silver coins: Achan took pieces or lumps of silver that functioned as money; coinage per se was not invented until the 600s BC. • I wanted them so much is translated “covet” in the tenth commandment (Exod 20:17). Achan’s coveting had prompted his theft.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.